The classic of Brazilian literature, and a powerful and absorbing story of love and disillusionment, passion and jealousy.

Bentinho, only child of a rich widow, lives next door to Capitu, the beautiful and charismatic daughter of a lowly government official. Childhood friendship turns to love, but an obstacle to their union exists in a vow made by the boy’s mother that her son should become a priest. The situation appears hopeless, but the resourceful and ambitious Capitu is not so easily discouraged …

First published in 1899, Dom Casmurro is acknowledged as the finest achievement of the Brazilian novelist Machado de Assis and among the most important novels ever written in the Portuguese language. Written from Bentinho’s perspective, his unreliable narrative examines the nature of truth and self-deception. And in his enigmatic heroine Capitu the author has created one of the most fascinating characters in Brazilian literature

Translated from the Portuguese and with an Introduction by R.L. Scott-Buccleuch.

‘Magic realism was not García Márquez’s invention. The Brazilian Machado de Assis came before him.’ – Salman Rushdie

'The delight and surprise of Machado de Assis comes from the sudden assault on his own civilised and well-mannered veneer.’ – Financial Times

‘Brazil's finest writer and the most modern of 19th-century Latin American authors.’ – Guardian

‘Machado de Assis is a great ironist, a tragic comedian. In his books, in their most comic moments, he underlines the suffering by making us laugh.’ – Philip Roth